Former president Bill Clinton accused Republicans of sending mixed messages on the economy, during an interview with Today’s Savannah Guthrie.
“I’m not sure both sides want the economy to get better,” he said. “I know the President does, but I know what Senator McConnell said that his No. 1 priority was winning the election.”
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly said a top goal of his party is to defeat President Obama’s re-election this fall.
Clinton suggested that the president’s recent call for an extension of tax cuts for those American households earning less than $250,000 a year was one solution, but Republicans needed to stop blocking the president at every turn in order for progress to be made.
“If we’re going to have long-term debt reduction, we’re gonna have to have some spending cuts and some more revenues and that’s the fairest place to get it,” Clinton remarked on the tax cut, which would also raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. “What the Republicans are trying to do is put him into a position of giving all that up for another year, which I think would be a big mistake. These things have been extended a long time…If they’re not going to negotiate with him, which they seem disinclined to do, then he has to stand his ground on this, and I think he’s right.” The former president also added his voice to those calling on Romney to release additional years of his tax returns. “I am a little surprised that he only released a year’s worth of tax returns. That’s kind of perplexed me,” he said. “It’s typical that we release 10, 11 years…that struck me as a little odd.”
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